Open-plan offices fail on acoustics more often than on any other dimension. The complaint is usually phrased as "it is too noisy to concentrate", but the underlying problem is usually too much reverberation and too little speech privacy, which are different issues with different fixes.

Reverberation versus speech privacy

Reverberation is sound bouncing off hard surfaces. It makes every conversation audible across the floor and raises the overall level. Speech privacy is whether an adjacent conversation is intelligible — a quieter room with poor privacy can be more distracting than a louder one where speech is masked. Fixing the first without the second produces a room that feels calmer and still stops people working.

What NRC actually tells you

Noise Reduction Coefficient runs from 0 (perfectly reflective) to 1 (fully absorptive), averaged across speech frequencies. Typical values: glass and plasterboard around 0.05, standard fabric-wrapped acoustic panel 0.75–0.85, thicker panels with an air gap above 0.9. A screen rated NRC 0.8 absorbs most of the sound that hits it — but only the sound that hits it. Absorption does not block sound; it reduces reflections.

Where acoustic furniture helps, and where it does not

• Desk-mounted screens: useful for visual privacy and for interrupting direct speech paths at 1.2–1.5 m. Effective between facing or adjacent desks, largely ineffective in open circulation.
• Floor-standing screens: better for creating semi-enclosed zones and breaking long sight lines. Height matters — a 1600 mm screen does more than a 1200 mm one because it interrupts the direct path between seated heads.
• Soft seating and upholstered pods: absorb mid and high frequencies and pull conversations out of the workstation rows. Their acoustic contribution is real but secondary to their function as destinations.
• Phone booths and focus pods: the only furniture category that genuinely solves confidential calls. One per 20–25 people is a workable starting ratio.

What acoustic furniture cannot fix

If the ceiling is bare concrete and the floor is hard, screens will absorb a fraction of the problem. Ceiling absorption is usually the highest-leverage intervention per square metre, followed by carpet or felt flooring in circulation areas. Furniture should be specified as part of that system, not as a substitute for it.

A practical specification sequence

1. Measure the current reverberation time (RT60) with a phone app as a rough baseline. Over 0.8 s in an open office is a warning sign.
2. Treat the ceiling and floor first if the budget allows.
3. Add screens at desk clusters where speech paths are direct, at 1400–1600 mm height.
4. Place soft seating and pods at the boundary between quiet and active zones, so they absorb and separate at the same time.
5. Provide focus rooms for anything confidential. Furniture cannot create privacy that the floor plan does not allow.

Materials that age well

Acoustic felt holds its performance but compresses where it is handled; fabric-wrapped panels are repairable but collect dust; perforated wood or metal with a mineral core performs well and is cleanable. In high-touch areas, specify a cleanable surface and check that the acoustic backing is sealed — an unsealed panel edge loses absorption and looks tired within two years.

The useful summary: acoustic furniture interrupts sight lines and absorbs reflections. It works when it is dense enough to matter — a handful of screens scattered across a floor is decoration, not acoustics.